May 12, 2022: Partners of the Americas announces the launch of a new 100,000 Strong in the Americas (100K) Innovation Fund grant competition between the United States and Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia, with generous support from CAF: Development Bank of Latin America, Colombia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MinCiencias), and the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
This 100K Innovation Fund competition will award up to 18 total grants of approximately $32,000 each to support 9 partnerships between higher education institutions in the U.S. and Colombia and 9 partnerships between institutions in the U.S. and in Peru, Ecuador, and/or Bolivia.
Assistant Secretary Brian A Nichols, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs: “The 100K Strong Innovation Fund harnesses the power of international education to provide opportunity and transform communities. The partnerships and exchange programs following this U.S.-Andes 100K Strong competition will innovate, educate, and empower. Working together, we will expand access to new models of innovative, inclusive education programs and deepen connections between education institutions, private sector, and civil society to ensure a more inclusive, prosperous, and greener hemisphere.”
Carolina España, Executive Vice President, CAF: “We believe in the transformative power of education, and we are committed to supporting those initiatives that help strengthen it all around our region. CAF is determined to build a long-term partnership that will allow us to expand the impact of the 100K Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund, in terms of its territorial scope, by including more Latin American and Caribbean countries, and its strategic relevance toward the main challenges that our world is facing.”
Teams of U.S. colleges and universities are invited to partner with regional education institutions in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia to create and implement new models of innovative, inclusive training and exchange programs for students at their home and host institutions. Thematic areas in this 100K Innovation Fund competition include: Green Economy; Environment; Sustainable Energy and Climate Solutions; Gender and Inclusion; Digital Transformation; Public Health; Creative and Cultural Industries; Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM); Biotechnology; among other areas. See the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the full list. The deadline to submit a grant proposal is August 28, 2022. For more details, please see the RFP at www.100kstrongamericas.org/grants.
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The 100,000 Strong in the Americas (100K) Innovation Fund is the public-private sector collaboration between the U.S. Department of State, U.S. embassies, and Partners of the Americas working with regional private, public, and academic sectors to stimulate and support innovative, inclusive partnerships and exchanges for students between the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The 100K Innovation Fund harnesses the power of education and collaboration across sectors to increase access to inclusive education and workforce readiness programs.
As of May 2022, after 33 competitions over nine years (2013-2022), the 100K Innovation Fund has awarded 278 grants ($25,000-$35,000 each) to teams of 534 higher education institutions working in 25 countries and 49 U.S. states. As a result of these partnerships, thousands of students and faculty have gained access to innovative training and exchange programs in the Americas. The 100K network currently includes approximately 2,300 higher education institutions—with over 1,250 universities and colleges based in the United States.
To Join the 100K Network and apply: www.100KStrongAmericas.org
Follow: #100KStrongAmericas
The mission of Partners of the Americas is to connect people and organizations across and within borders to serve and change lives through lasting partnerships. These partnerships create opportunity, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems. Inspired by President Kennedy and founded in 1964, under the Alliance for Progress, Partners is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with international offices in Washington, D.C. Learn more at www.partners.net or via Twitter @partnersamerica.
The mission of CAF – Development Bank of Latin America is to promote sustainable development and regional integration by means of financing projects in the public and private sectors, providing technical cooperation, and other specialized services. Created in 1970, it is made up of 20 countries, 18 Latin American and Caribbean, together with Spain and Portugal, and 13 private banks, it is one of the main sources of multilateral financing and an important generator of knowledge for the region. For more information, visit www.caf.com or via Twitter @AgendaCAF.
Colombia’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MinCiencias) is the body that manages the public administration and leads the sector and the National Science, Technology and Innovation System (SNCTI, for its acronym in Spanish). It is in charge of devising, guiding, directing, coordinating, executing, implementing, and monitoring the State’s policy on this matter, in accordance with development plans and programs. As a public agency, it seeks to coordinate the different actors in the system through knowledge generation and transfer, innovation, social appropriation, and the vocational education of children and young people, together with top-level training in science, technology, and innovation. It also works to reinforce partnerships between international strategic players to achieve its mission objectives and disseminate knowledge on the global stage. For more information, visit minciencias.gov.co/.
Press contact: Rachel Falek | rfalek@partners.net